$31,000,000 is a lot of green

Touting a proposal to replace Toronto’s green bins with new ones that are raccoon-proof, Mayor Tory was all smiles. “Defeat is not an option,” quotes the Toronto Star. “It’s Raccoon-Proof!” announced my local councillor’s newsletter.

Not so fast. When I wrote the Mayor’s Office to ask if the new bins would come with a money-back guarantee, Solid Waste Management’s reply began:

“The Request for Proposals required that the vendor proposed new green bins must be animal resistant. We stay away from stating that anything is animal proof.”

We already have green bins that are animal resistant. Not perfect, but not an additional $31 million dollars, either. And the “green” factor? The proposal calls for shipping all of our existing bins to Pennsylvania, melting them down and shipping new ones back to Toronto. Sound “green” to you?

The Mayor’s Office says Council decides on new bins on May 5th or 6th. Still time to let your councillor know that we have better uses for all those millions, especially since there’s absolutely no guarantee that new bins will work.

Funny story, if you want to continue …

Regarding false or exaggerated claims:

Many years ago, an ad agency where I worked was in a panic. Regulators had rejected a claim for a prospective client’s toothpaste. They could not flash packaging with the words TARTAR-REMOVING because the product simply did not remove or prevent tartar. Tartar is so tough, a dental assistant has to scrape it away, as we all know and pay for.

Rats! So what CAN be claimed? TARTAR-RESISTANT? No. ANTI-TARTAR? Rejected.

The panic became fever-hot when a rumour circulated that a rival agency copywriter had scored, sliding something past the regulators and placing the rival agency in position to win the account. Spies were sent out and the truth came back. The approved claim? TARTAR-FIGHTING.

What? How can such a claim be valid while the others were struck down? The regulator’s reasoning was simple. You can say you are FIGHTING tartar because you can LOSE a fight (which is what the toothpaste did).